The Hong Lim Series: Line and Fragments – Recent Works of Jon Chan
Venue: iPreciation (誰先覺), 50 Cuscaden Road, HPL House #01-01, Singapore 249724
Private Preview: Sep 17, 2022, 12-5pm
(By Invitation Only. Artist Will Be Present)
Artist’s Talk: Oct 1, 2022, 3pm
To register for the artist’s talk, please contact us at +65 63390678 or enquiry@ipreciation.com
Exhibition Opens to Public: Sep 19 – Oct 1, 2022
iPreciation is delighted to present a solo exhibition titled The Hong Lim Series: Line and Fragments by Singapore artist Jon Chan. This exhibition marks a new and ongoing series that Chan has embarked on as he surveys the connection, or rather disconnection, between the physical manifestation of the site and the symbolic presence of the person the park is named after.
About the Exhibition
The Hong Lim Series: Line and Fragments brings forth a two-fold exploration as Chan manoeuvres through Hong Lim Park, a site full of storytelling and political narratives and his ancestral relations with Cheang Hong Lim. Driving from an alienated perspective, Chan also integrates notions of time as a medium, often realised through fragmented imageries.
The act of naming forms an emotional and directive bond between Hong Lim the person and Hong Lim the Park. This orchestrated form of a binding power when displaced and resurfaced in conversations and research, often draws on a singular political association. Here, Chan takes on a different stance. He deliberately segregates the usual connotations attached to the park and seeks to study the facades of Hong Lim Park as a historical and functional space that has served not just the politicians (as many would assume), but also the arts, the sportsmen and the passerby.
Drawing inspiration from Sequential Art and Film, Chan paints ‘present-day’ Hong Lim Park and weaves in slices of reality that has been taken out from their respective timelines and social-political context. The juxtapositions of these fragments of space ruffle the linear presentation of the site and create tension as the space and agents of space attempt to establish their presence. When viewers are pulled into the scale of his works, they are yet clearly detached from the spacetime, witnessing the confrontation of time and its evolving development on the canvas.
As a continuation of his previous investigative viewpoints, a naturally recurring motif of dichotomic narratives and dialectical pulls are present in the zone that Chan has carefully contrived. Overlaying individuals of people at Hong Lim Park in a reconstructed image of Hong Lim Park, Chan has presented the possibility of reconfiguring elements that reflect on time and space. He has also subtly conveyed an inclination to reconcile conflicting units of time in an entirely different plane through the act of painting.
Between the moving lines (literally or figuratively) and fragments of existence lingering in Chan’s work, we invite you to contemplate the various dimensions that exist between perception and conception.
About Hong Lim Park
Most known as Singapore’s only designated Speaker’s Corner, Hong Lim Park has rich storytelling and political history. Originally named after the first Superintendent of Police, Thomas Dunman, it was later renamed Hong Lim Green, in honour of Cheang Hong Lim, a wealthy and influential Chinese businessman who bought the land and donated it to the government. It has served as an important space for many political rallies, performances and activities.
Artist Statement
“This new body of works marks a new and ongoing series that focuses on a two-fold exploration of both the physical site, Hong Lim Park and the person which that same park is named after, Cheang Hong Lim whom I share ancestry with.
Instead of approaching the project from the perspective of a descendant of Hong Lim, the artist approaches it from an alienated one. More specifically, a perspective that projects a sense of the divided self. This sense of a divided self is rooted in the very way he paints which at certain moments may seem like doubtful gestures; however, paradoxically, these doubtful gestures are also propelled by lively ones. The overall effect is paintings that look assertive yet restrained. This way of painting works as a metaphor for approaching and choosing the subject matter. Both Hong Lim the person and Hong Lim the Park are likewise ‘divided’, estranged from one another, making it an ideal terrain for my work.”
~Jon Chan
About the Artist
Jon Chan Weiwen (b.1982, Singapore) graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) in 2007, and a Masters of Fine Arts in 2008, from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. Chan is the winner of the Winston Oh Travel Award for the years 2003 and 2007. He was also awarded the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Arts award in 2007. Chan has participated extensively in numerous group exhibitions since 2002 and has held various solo exhibitions in Singapore.
For more information, please contact us at enquiry@ipreciation.com.